Spring Garden Planting Begins: Planting Seeds, Growing Hope
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
There’s something about planting seeds that feels a lot like a love song.
Maybe it’s the optimism. Maybe it’s the trust. Or maybe it’s simply the act of placing something small into the soil and believing that, given enough time, it will grow into something beautiful.
We have officially began our spring planting season in Central Florida. After spending the past few weeks observing the space, rebuilding soil health, and preparing garden beds, it was finally time to start planting the next chapter of the garden.
And with every seed, transplant, and cutting, we were reminded that growth rarely happens all at once. It happens through small, intentional actions repeated over time.
A New Season Begins (Spring)
We planted a variety of crops throughout the garden, each chosen not only for its potential harvest, but also for the role it can play within the larger ecosystem.
New additions included:
Burpless cucumbers
Pickling cucumbers
Black Beauty eggplant
Black Beauty zucchini
Marigolds and pollinator-friendly flowers
Some were planted directly into the garden, while others were started in containers or under grow lights. Each growing method serves a different purpose, helping us maximize space while creating a more resilient system.
Rather than planting everything at once, we're focusing on building a garden that can produce continuously throughout the season.
Companion Planting With Intention
One of the most exciting parts of this week's work was beginning to think more intentionally about plant relationships.
In regenerative gardening, plants aren't simply placed next to one another based on available space. They're arranged based on how they can support each other.
Throughout the garden, we continued building companion planting combinations designed to:
Attract pollinators
Improve biodiversity
Maximize space
Support ecosystem health
One of my favorite examples was planting sage and Cuban oregano around the olive tree, creating the beginning of a Mediterranean-inspired planting guild.
These combinations not only look beautiful, but also help create a garden that functions more like a natural ecosystem.
Propagating New Life
This week we also experimented with propagating tomato suckers in water.
One of the things I love most about gardening is how generous nature can be. A small cutting from an existing plant has the potential to become an entirely new plant.
It's a reminder that abundance often comes from working with what we already have.
Instead of constantly bringing new things into the system, regenerative gardening encourages us to observe, reuse, and multiply existing resources whenever possible.
Planting Food Scraps
Another experiment this week involved planting food scraps directly into the garden.
We planted:
Red onions
White onions
Sweet potatoes
Whether every experiment succeeds or not, the process of testing, observing, and learning is an important part of building a resilient garden.
Gardening is never about perfection. It's about curiosity.
More Than a Garden
One thing I've noticed as this project progresses is that the garden is becoming more than a place to grow food.
It's becoming a place to slow down.
To notice.
To reconnect.
There is something deeply grounding about spending time in the soil, watching seedlings emerge, and observing the subtle changes that happen from week to week.
The song featured in our video felt especially fitting because planting seeds often feels like an act of love.
Love for the future.
Love for the people who will share in the harvest.
Love for the pollinators, birds, and beneficial insects that help bring the garden to life.
And perhaps most importantly, love for the process itself.
Looking Ahead
As spring continues, we'll be focusing on:
Expanding companion planting throughout the garden
Training cucumbers along the trellis
Monitoring pollinator activity
Building soil coverage and biodiversity
Supporting the long-term health of the ecosystem
Because regenerative gardening isn't just about what we harvest.
It's about what we're building beneath the surface.
And sometimes, the most important growth happens where we can't yet see it.
Follow along as we continue documenting this regenerative urban garden project in Zone 10A and exploring what it means to grow food, build healthy ecosystems, and reconnect with nature.
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